


The Riddle

by raspberryhunter



Series: Being Human [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Consentfest, F/M, Female Friendship, Humor, Ratings: PG, Unresolved Sexual Tension, does not pass bechdel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-01
Updated: 2012-05-01
Packaged: 2017-11-04 13:30:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberryhunter/pseuds/raspberryhunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr. Gold gives Rose (Belle) a riddle, and her friends discuss it.<br/>(In the Being Human series, but can be read as a standalone.)</p>
<p>  <i>Ruby breathed, "You think Mr. Gold has sexually transmitted diseases? And a secret wife?"</i></p>
<p>  <i>"Um, that's really not what I meant," Mary Margaret said.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Riddle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophiagratia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiagratia/gifts).



> Written for [Consentfest 2012](http://sophia-gratia.dreamwidth.org/51975.html).
> 
> I'm sorry, the women wanted to have fun with this. I do take the subject seriously, however, even if Ruby doesn't. Warning for vague, strictly theoretical, somewhat didactic discussion of nonconsensual sex.

Rose waited until the other customers left the shop, dawdling, pretending to examine a baby mobile. Finally they were alone; Mr. Gold, ignoring her, started straightening items, moving others around. As he was placing a trinket in a drawer, she walked up to him. "I broke up with Justin," Rose said, to his back.

He turned. His eyes were shadowed, and Rose could not tell what he was thinking. "Not because you thought there might be someone else, I hope," he said neutrally.

"No," Rose said. "No, we were definitely not right for one another. But -- "

Mr. Gold's head came up quickly. "Yes?"

"But I really like you," Rose said. "I really, really like you. And -- and I think you might like me. And, I mean, I know you're a bit older than I am, but that's okay with me, really. And -- I mean -- we could just, just go out sometime, go to the diner and grab lunch, take a walk -- just, just do something together."

Mr. Gold looked at her and took a slow step closer. "You always were courageous," he whispered. He raised a hand to her face, brushed back a lock of hair.

Rose gazed back at him, her heart beating wildly. 

Mr. Gold sighed, dropped his hand, stepped away. "Here's a riddle for you, dear," he said. "When is consent not consent?"

Rose frowned. "What?"

"Think about it, dear," Mr. Gold said, turning from her. "Ask your friends. I'll say good day now." He disappeared into the back of the shop, and confused, Rose left.

*

Entering the diner, Rose saw Ruby taking an order from Emma and Mary Margaret. Rose slid into the booth next to Mary Margaret. "I just talked to Mr. Gold," she said to the three women. "I told him I really liked him -- that the age thing didn't bother me, that it was all over with Justin -- and asked if he wanted to go out for lunch or for a walk sometime."

Mary Margaret shook her head. "I just don't know about this whole thing. Rebound relationships are a really bad idea."

"I'll never know what you see in him." Ruby said to Rose, frowning. "He's not nearly as hot as August -- but hold on, you don't seem as happy as I'd expect. Don't tell me he didn't take you up on it! I've seen the way he looks at you."

"I'm confused more than anything else," Rose admitted. "I was sure he was going to kiss me-- but then he didn't."

"Was it the age thing?" Emma asked. "Because, I mean, that could be an issue, I know from experience that things can come up-- but you could talk about it --"

"You know from experience?" Mary Margaret demanded.

"What? Yeah, I might have dated a couple of older guys, so what? You're not my moth -- my keeper, I mean--"

Rose cleared her throat loudly. "No, it's not the age thing. I don't know what it was. He didn't say he didn't like me -- I feel even more like he totally does -- or that he was worried about anything." She quickly detailed what had happened in Gold's shop.

"That's _it_?" Ruby said incredulously, all thoughts of waiting on the other tables clearly forgotten. "He just said goodbye and left?"

"Yeah. And what did he mean by consent not being consent?" Rose fretted. "At least he called me _dear_."

"He says that to everyone," observed Emma. "He calls _me_ dear, and I don't think he likes me at all, he's always looking at me like he thinks I'm an idiot."

"The consent thing means roofies," Ruby informed Rose. "Or being really drunk."

"I wasn't drunk," Rose protested. "Not even a little bit. And I didn't have anything to drink at Gold's shop, he could hardly have slipped me a roofie."

Ruby sniffed. "That's exactly what you'd say if you didn't remember."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You think Mr. Gold has a wet bar in his pawn shop? And anyway, why would he go to all that trouble to refuse me and give me a riddle about consent?"

Emma said thoughtfully, "The riddle's interesting, anyway. Normally, I'd take this to refer to some sort of implicit coercion -- for example, if he held a loan over your head, or something."

Rose wrinkled her nose. "No. Ew. Dad and I paid off the loan with the Valentine's Day profits. And that would be creepy, anyway."

Emma visibly relaxed. "Good. In that case, I think the answer might be -- if you can't have open communication for some reason, like in Ruby's roofie example, or if you don't have enough information to give an informed response. So you might say yes, but it isn't true consent, in a sense. Like if your partner had an STD or something, but didn't tell you -- that information might have changed your answer."

"Or if he were married and you didn't know that when you fell in love," Mary Margaret said darkly.

Ruby's eyes were round. She breathed, "You think Mr. Gold has sexually transmitted diseases? And a secret wife?"

"He does _not_ ," Rose said indignantly. "Er. At least, I don't think so."

"Um, that's really not what I meant," Mary Margaret said.

Emma said, sounding alarmed, "I don't think that, Ruby. Those were just examples. Uh... more generally, maybe you don't have important knowledge of something that might change what you thought about a situation, or a person."

"Why couldn't he just tell me what it was, then?" Rose asked. "Or even just tell me that there _was_ something, without resorting to a riddle?"

Mary Margaret muttered, "You do wonder. _Men_."

"If he does have a secret wife, where do you think she's been all this time?" Ruby mused. "Maybe she's crazy. Maybe there's a secret ward of _insane people_ in the basement of the hospital --"

"Don't be ridiculous," Rose snapped.

"Maybe it's like Henry's theories," Mary Margaret said dreamily. "The ones where he thinks we're all cursed with secret fairytale identities which we totally don't remember. And Gold couldn't tell you because he's forbidden by the curse, or because he doesn't want the wicked Queen to know that _he_ remembers his secret fairytale identity. And perhaps he said to ask your friends because he needs one of us to ask him about it. Hey, maybe he even knows how to break the curse."

Emma started to say something, then stopped. She looked as if someone had given her the answer to a riddle that she hadn't been expecting. She stared at Mary Margaret, her mouth slightly open, and abruptly stood up. "I... I have to go talk to Mr. Gold right now. Mary Margaret, can you take care of the check? I'll pay you back." And she was gone, so quickly that Rose blinked.

Mary Margaret pointed out, "Ruby, you never even brought Emma her coffee."

Ruby ignored her. "Do you think Emma went to see if Mr. Gold is hiding a secret wife in the back of his pawnshop?" she asked.

" _No_ ," Mary Margaret and Rose said together.


End file.
